A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Restoring Relations with Cuba

Fidel Castro and his good friend Yasser Arafat

This is a bit off topic for this blog. But what happened
last week is a major event and something I want to comment upon.

I am old enough to remember Fulgencio Batista. As a baby I
actually lived in Cuba with my parents for a while before my father got a job
in Toledo. (Although I don’t remember it. Long story. Not for now.) Batista was
the American friendly elected president - and later dictator - of Cuba until he
was overthrown by another dictator, Fidel Castro, via a military coup in 1959. Once
in power Castro showed his true colors as a devout communist.

Cuba under Batista was a country divided between the few
very wealthy and the great many poor. Castro saw that as a great injustice - that
a corrupt Batista perpetuated. Castro’s
purpose seemed noble. He believed in
communism. Which he saw as the great equalizer. He apparently succeeded in
making the wealthy – unwealthy and imposing a Marxist-Leninist style communist government
in Cuba. Under Castro, everyone was equal… equally poor.

President Eisenhower immediately broke relations with Castro’s
Cuba and placed an embargo on it which has remained in place until this day.
The United States at that time was in the middle of the ‘Cold War’ and could
not countenance a communist regime 90 miles from its shore.

Long story short, many Cubans have fled that country and one
way or another came to the United States. Over the years the US Cuban community
was very anti Castro. They wanted to see him deposed and democracy restored.
Castro was an intransigent despot who refused to budge from his leftist
philosophy. Cuba has suffered from that as
well as from the imposed embargo and has remained poor. The US has remained
firm over 9 presidents in its resolve to boycott Cuba until it changed its dictatorial
polices. Which violated many of the human rights of its citizens.

It should also be noted that Castro was no friend of Israel.
Typical of left wing despots he opposed the kind of democracy practiced in
Israel and fully supported the Palestinian cause. Yassir Arafat was one of his long time good friends.

Now, over 50 years later nothing has changed. Except that
Castro’s brother, Raul is now Cuba’s Communist dictator. Not sure there is all
that much difference between the 2 brothers views of government.

Last week in a surprising and bold move President Obama
decided to use his authority as President to reestablish diplomatic relations
with Cuba. There are many people that are shocked at this and very disappointed
at him. They feel the US is rewarding over 50 years of a Communist dictatorship
90 miles from its shores without a single concession to us. Their government
will not change a single policy with respect to its human rights violations.
Many expatriate Cubans living and prospering in the US are outraged by this. Especially older Cubans who remember well how things were when they left. Their
hatred for Cuba and communism is visceral. The same is true about some of the
more intelligent right wing politicians in office. Like Florida’s US Senator
Marco Rubio, himself the son of Cuban immigrants.

Oddly enough, opposition to this among US Cubans is not universal.
Some US Cubans are actually pleased by this for a variety of reasons. For
example travel to Cuba will no longer be restricted and families can now more
easily visit each other.

I understand the anger of those who are opposed. But I
happen to agree with what the President did here. The timing was just about
right to do something like this… and I’m glad one of the benefits was the
release from prison of Alan Gross and a US Spy in Cuba in exchange for 3 of their
spies incarcerated here.

I see only good coming out of this. Communism ultimately fails
as a system of government. You cannot force people to be altruistic and ‘share’
the products of their labor with others that may not be as productive or
idealistic as you are. The intent of communism being a fair equalizer so that
all share equally in work and its products is never successful in its implementation.

There are always people that work harder and produce more.
They will resent giving up part of what they worked so hard for to someone who
is a slacker by nature and produces far less. As idealistic as communism is in
sharing everything equally, the truth is that it is grossly unfair to those who
work harder to get the same benefits as those who don’t. Such systems are certainly
doomed to failure on a large scale as was seen in the failure of the former
Soviet Union. In the end, only a free society where people can basically keep what
they earn is fair. Even Communist China seems to recognize this and has allowed
some capitalism and competition into its controlled economy. It is now thriving
because of it.

I believe that a large part of the collapse of Marxist Leninist
communist countries is due to the fact that Nixon and Reagan had a policy of constructive
engagement with them. That allowed us to have greater influence and enabled us
to put pressure on these regimes to lighten up on their dictatorships. The first
major result was the fall of the Berlin wall… and ultimately the collapse of
the Soviet Union. Capitalism is now alive and well there.

This brings me back to Cuba. The first notable result of the
President’s announced change in policy was jubilation in the streets of Cuba.
The Cubans love American success and want to have some of it. They want to be
like us. They just hated that we embargoed them which contributed mightily to
their poverty. They are all now salivating at the prospect of the economic ties
and the benefits that will surely come as a result. Give people a little
freedom and a little hope… and the possibilities are endless.

I do not see communism ultimately being sustained in the
long term there. Certainly not any more that it was in Russia. With the help of
US entrepreneurs, Cuba will slowly become a more competitive and productive economy.
Which will certainly have reciprocal effects on the United States. Business
expansion to other countries is usually very profitable. Their business will
certainly increase, and they – and their investors - will profit. Wall Street
must be thrilled.

What about Cuba’s relationship with Israel? First of all, I do not believe that Cubans are inherently antisemitic or even anti Israel. But I don’t think it
really matters anyway. Not any more than Venezuela’s relationship with Israel matters. And who knows… that could change too. Cuba is
not an Iran whose fanatic Muslim leader’s religious views require taking
control of all of ‘Palestine’ by any means necessary.

Will Cuba become an American style democracy one day? Who
knows. But I don’t think it is out of the question. And this is a good start
along that road. America will certainly become a more dominant presence there
as a result of this.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.